Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Sticks of Fire reader Taylor sent this to us recently:

A group of Tampa residents headed by Mimi Conneely are pushing for a crosswalk at the north end of Bayshore. Currently there is no safe accommodation of foot, bike or wheelchair traffic to or from Davis Islands, leaving S.O.L. anybody without a car who needs to get to or from Tampa General Hospital, or any Davis Islands public or private amenity. Not to mention kids who live on Davis Islands and go to Gorrie, Wilson or Plant. Website is very preliminary for now, there is a petition going…

Actually, there is a footbridge to cross Bayshore, as part of the automobile bridge to DI. But then we heard from Mimi, who says that bridge is only accessible by stairs.

To Parents and Tax payers,

My name is Mimi Conneely, I have seen people in wheelchairs negotiating Bayshore to go from Davis Island to Publix and some who just want to wheel up and down Bayshore. There is no safe access from Publix to Bayshore or vise versa, until Howard. There is, however, an overpass for the ambulatory on the Davis Island bridge leaving the island.

We need support when we present to the Mayor. Please sign petition at, http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bayshoreforall/

For more information, including pictures of light locations, go to www.bayshoreforall.com.

For pedestrians, just jump up those steps, scoot across the Bayshore, and head north. The walk from Tampa General to Publix is almost half a mile. But there is no way for wheelchair-bound folks to get up on that bridge; they must use crosswalks.

Going south of the DI bridges, the next crosswalk is the new one they installed at Howard Av., about two miles away, making a round trip better than 3.7 miles. So the obvious route is north. But in addition to the lack of crosswalk on Bayshore, there is no way to cross Platt without going all the way to Franklin. On the north side of Platt, there is no way to cross Ashley without going to Brorein. Yeah - it’s confusing, that’s why I made a map. You can clearly see the most direct wheelchair route is more than a mile, making a round trip 2.3 miles.

And don’t think this is just about shopping at Publix. From the residential side, wheelchair users must currently go at least 5 blocks out of the way just to get a good look at the bay.

Community Publications announced today the sale of the Davis Islands Community News to Tampa Marketing Company. Davis Islands residents have been receiving their news on local issues and events in this local newspaper for seven years.

“Davis Islands is a perfectly located Tampa community that is frequently forgotten due to its ‘destination’ geography,” said Bill Sharpe, president of Tampa Marketing Company. “With Tampa General Hospital, the Peter O. Knight Airport, the Davis Islands Yacht Club and great restaurants and businesses, Davis Islands has a lot to offer its residents and surrounding communities.”

The Davis Islands Community News was founded in 2001 and was taken over by the current editor and publisher, Lee Medart, in 2003. While the April issue with Medart as editor has been distributed, Bill Sharpe and Tampa Marketing Company’s first edition will be issued in May 2007.

“With Lee Medart’s planned retirement, many Davis Islands residents have feared that their local identity might be sacrificed,” said Sharpe. “With the great community identity and discussions that she [Medart] has helped to create, we look forward to following her efforts through the continued publication of the Davis Islands Community News.”

Sharpe added that many Davis Islands businesses are frequently forgotten by the mainland residents and the Tampa Marketing Company hopes to help increase awareness of them.

The Tampa Marketing Company is best recognized as an internet and web-based marketing company with the sites they own or provide advertising sales for including TampaForums.com, TampaRacing.com, TampaGold.com, SOHOTampa.com and Sticks of Fire.com.

In addition, many of the Web sites have been recognized locally including SOHOTampa.com and Sticks of Fire as Creative Loafing’s “Best of the Bay for 2006.” Also, TampaGold.com recently provided web casts of candidates’ forums in several Tampa City Council races and the top five Tampa Marketing Company Web sites achieved more than 108 million page views with more than 1.2 million unique visitors in 2006.

“I have known Bill for over two years and he has done tremendous things to build a greater awareness of the SOHO (South Howard Avenue) area. He has been a member of our Chamber of Commerce, knows Davis Islands and will help to continue the Davis Islands Community News responsiveness to our local neighborhood issues,” said Medart.

The Davis Islands Community News is a monthly publication that is mailed to all of the residents of Davis Islands. The total current distribution is approximately 3,000 and Tampa Marketing Company’s plans call for a significant increase of distribution to more surrounding neighborhood areas.

Did you know that the City of Tampa has a neighborhood department. Yup. TheCity of Tampa Neighborhood and Community Relations mission is to “bring government closer to all people by serving as the liaison between the government and community to help Tampa thrive and shine.”

They also include a list of 104 Tampa neighborhood groups. Unfortunately, only 26 of them have a website:

• Ballast Point Neighborhood Association
• Bayshore Beautiful Homeowners Association, Inc.
• Bel Mar Gardens Neighborhood Association
• Davis Island Neighborhood Planning Task Force
• South Seminole Heights Civic Association
• Lowry Park Central Civic Association, Inc.
• Hunters Green Magnolia Chase Neighborhood Association, Inc.
• The Marina Club Of Tampa
• Davis Islands Civic Association, Inc.
• Oakford Park Neighborhood Association, Inc.
• Riverside Heights Civic Association
• The New Tampa Community Council
• Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association, Inc.
• Palma Ceia Neighborhood Association, Inc.
• Palmetto Beach Community Association, Inc.
• Civic Association Of Port Tampa City, Inc.
• Ridgewood Park CPCA, Inc.
• Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association
• Sunset Park Area Homeowners Association
• Gandy/Sun Bay South Civic Association
• Swann Estates Neighborhood Association
• Tampa Heights Civic Association
• Tampa Downtown Partnership
• Temple Crest Civic Association
• The Virginia Park Residential Neighborhood Association
• Wellswood Civic Association

I grabbed them all from the city, so if there are bad links, please let me know.

80 years ago…

October 13, 1926 – David P. Davis, developer of Davis Islands, dies mysteriously at sea while en route to Europe. It is still unknown whether Davis was murdered, committed suicide or fell overboard accidentally.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.